1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat exchangers, and more particularly to a compact, modular heat exchanger supported on fluid conduits to which it is connected.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquid to liquid heat exchangers are used in many heating and cooling applications, and in many cases, are useful for individual heating and cooling appliances. In such cases, the heat exchange elements may be fairly small. However, commercial practice has not developed small, lightweight exchangers which are readily assembled and connected to piping systems. This may be because mass production lends itself to large production runs, allowing for few variations in size or capacity. With relatively few models, capacities, and configurations, it becomes necessary for a single model to serve in a wide range of applications, such a unit necessarily being larger than warranted for most applications. As such, the unit has relatively great weight and bulk. For most applications, therefore, the unit dwarfs the piping to which it is connected. Aside from being wasteful with regard to occupied space and cost, this bulk and mass require support structure, possibly including legs or suspension means, and ready access to a supporting environmental surface. Also, labor of installation would accordingly be increased.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,391, issued on Feb. 11, 1986, Charles E. Hulswitt et al. present a compact heat exchanger essentially formed by a chamber having stacked parallel heat exchange plates and four headers attached thereto. This heat exchanger includes a series of parallel plates having embossments presenting a depression on one side of the plate and a corresponding protuberance on the opposite side of the plate.
The ability to be field installed is an important feature of the present invention. The heat exchanger of '391 is constructed such that ready field assembly is not readily accomplished. Also, the ingress angle of the pipe couplings causes the headers, if this device is furnished as a field installed kit, to require precise positioning during assembly. Furthermore, the lack of right angles or of parallel ingress and egress of pipe couplings makes for more complicated field assembly to a piping system.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,928, issued to Per S. Norback on Jul. 11, 1978, a fabrication method is presented in which thin heat exchange sheet members are folded and fastened, as by soldering, to form an assembly segregating two flows of gaseous media such that heat is transferred from one flow to the other. Texturing for heat transfer in each heat exchange sheet is provided by fluting. Norback further discloses fluted heat exchange sheets, the fluting of two adjacent sheets running at an angle or bias to the fluting of the other sheet.
Neither of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.